When the dinner was over, she motioned in my direction. "Walk with me," she asked, and somewhat magically I found my arm linked with hers. We walked for a time away from the castle until a small home sat opposite the great farming fields of the palace.
Embeth looked at me, and told me that she thinks so highly of me, and put me on this path, because she had known of me a long time. In this cottage was one of her children who went out into the Shadows to observe those born of Amber blood.
'one' of her children
The image of the Pattern swirled in my head, and all of those things it had dredged from the muck of forgetting were pulled forth. I looked away. "You have -- had, other children?"
"Yes."
"When I took the Pattern, it pulled many buried memories -- many painful memories from my mind. It made me realize some things."
She smiled softly. "It has a way of doing that, yes."
I turned. "I'm sorry... I am so, so sorry. I was young and foolish, and I should have known better -- I should have spared you this..."
I felt her small hand on my cheek. "I understand, Griffin. Now you know why it is that I think so highly of you."
We embraced, and what I remember is standing there together for a long while.
*****
We walked back from the cottage house towards the castle on an idyllic evening -- the kind where the silvery light of the great full moon in this world set each drop of dew, each spider's web burning with a white-hot fire. We walked along the fields where crops and gardens grew, bearing fruits both familiar and bizarre. Aidan trailed behind respectfully, and I felt no resentment from him, or at least there was none that I could detect.
There was a long silence.
"You had sent Claire to watch me?" I asked, softly.
Embeth smiled softly. "Not just you, Griffin, but all of the Darkling Realms, since my brother was no longer as... enlightened... as I."
I nodded and we walked along a bit longer. I had no idea that Claire had been anyone other than a citizen of the Realms -- in fact, I had assumed that she'd been trained by the same masters I had, and was after the same commission. I realized I assumed a lot of things about her that were probably way off the mark. She was a mystery to me, and I was so infatuated I had no reason to question anything alien about her. The more I looked at Embeth, the more I saw the resemblance between them...
"And when she didn't..."
"Claire was supposed to report back to me on the status of things. Not longer before the events with Dyson, she had leaked that she had important information about a spy in the Realms. She was supposed to meet up with a courier to report to me, but then only the messenger showed up. That put an end to that particular investigation." Her face was hard to read.
I thought about that for a second, resolving to talk to Merlin or Rowan about this, even though it's been over twenty years now.
"She died following me on a fool's mission for king, country, and more gold than anyone could spend in their lifetime. If I had known, I would have spared you this."
She remarked that that had apologized for perhaps a half-dozen times already, and we stopped before entering the palace again. "Griffin, I don't think that it is I that you're really seeking forgiveness from."
The more I thought about it, the more I realized she was right.
*****
We left Embeth's relam to visit many other courts; finally we were given the info we'd been looking for. Her name was Esheth, and she was looking to reinstate the Teined -- a sacrifice to the demons of the underworld that Embeth had banned when she'd taken control of the fae. They held their own court in tunnels beneath a Tor that we were given directions to. After a discussion with our party, we arrived and spread out, looking for an entrance. Silly me for thinking the stone I'd found would reveal the entrance and not just teleport me inside...
When I woke, I was crumpled on the floor in total darkness, so I called upon my magics to light the way. The cavern only allowed for one direction, and that's the way I went.
It was not long before I'd found the evidence of Syrana and the other girls who were abducted -- I'd found the other girls "sleeping" in their beds. They were in some sort of trance that I could not break them from, so I kept searching, as Syrana was nowhere to be found.
Wandering these tunnels, in near darkness, I lost all sense of time or direction, but eventually I found a dining area, where various types of service equipment and plates were set out. There was no sign of life other than this, so I kept moving.
That's when they found me.
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